Chapter 32
Twilight Sparkle POV
“What do you mean he told you to drop him?!” I yelled at Rainbow Dash, who reeled back in fear of my sudden increase in volume.
“Hey! I had both of them in my hooves, but I had trouble getting back to the cave! That’s when 64 told me to drop him so I could fly up! But when I refused, he kicked my hoof! And then I dropped him down the cliff! Look!” Rainbow said, showing me her bruised left hoof. I saw it looked painful, and I looked back up apologetically.
“Look, that isn’t what matters right now. Right now, we have the Elements of Harmony, and you 6 need to use them to stop Super Nova.” Shining Armor said, shocking me with his statement.
“What do you mean it doesn’t matter!? 64 went into that burning Palace to get the Elements of Harmony for us, saved you in the process, and now you’re saying it doesn’t matter?!” I screamed in his face, shocked at his attitude towards the entire thing.
He suddenly looked shock, as if he realized what he had just said.
“No! No! I didn’t mean that! I’m incredibly grateful for saving you at the Clock Tower, and getting me out of Super Nova’s Palace, but I’m saying that we don’t need to worry about 64! You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff he has gone through in his life, so I doubt a fall off of a cliff is what is going to stop him. But it’s when he lands is what worries me…” Shining explained, looking down during the last part of his explanation.
“Why wouja be worried ‘bout him? From what ya tol’ us he’s stronger than a mama cow tryin ta pull her calf outta a well!” Applejack pointed out, as I also wondered what he meant.
“What I mean, is that 64 was severely injured in there, trying to save me. Apparently while he was saving me, Super Nova stabbed a Halberd through his back.” He said, as the entirety of my friends looked up in shock, knowing the damage a stab like that could do.
“How in heavens was he still up and running? He must have been in terrible pain!” Rarity yelled out, putting a hoof to her forehead in a dramatic matter.
“He was, in fact he should have died in there, but he was able to somehow get me out of the room where he was fighting Super Nova, and I was able to put a spell on him which would slowly heal him over a long period of time. Here’s the bad part, it’s designed for injured patients who won’t being doing any physical labor, and are lying in a hospital bed. 64 just fell from a cliff, and I doubt he is simply just going to lie there for a week. I can bet all my bits that he is already trying to make his way up this cliff right now, and I can only pray that there aren’t going to be any complications with the spell on him.” Shining finished, as he walked outside of the cliff and looked down.
“Do you really have that much faith in him Shining?” I said, walking to his side, slightly nuzzling him. I felt him nuzzle back, as he spoke.
“I do Twily, I really do.”
“Then we have no time to lose. Rarity, open up that chest, we gotta prep the Elements for a showdown against Super Nova!” I said confidently, as Rarity used her magic to open the chest as a Bright white light shone out, and the 6 Elements of Harmony floated out, and attached to all of us accordingly.
“Wow… my little sister, wielding one of the most powerful magical weapons in Equestrian history… Should I be worried?” Shining Armor said jokingly, as he nudged me with his elbow.
“Woah Woah Woah!” Rainbow Dash yelled, startling the entire group. “Ok, I’m gonna point out the elephant in the room. We know that 64 is something called a “human”, and he has that weird doohickey that can make all of the swords and stuff, but what exactly is his deal? He didn’t really tell us much back there in the Castle Ruins.”
I saw Shining Armor looked down contemplatively, as if he knew what he would tell us would be hard to understand.
“He’s been through a lot, more than most ponies will ever go through in their entire lifetimes. The fact that he still gets up every morning and continues to keep pushing is nothing short of a miracle…” He explained, “When I became Captain of the Royal Guard, I was able to find out what they had done to him in the past. Day after day of torture, with horrible living conditions and abuse from the Underground Guards… can’t even begin to imagine…”
Fluttershy of all ponies walked up to him, and softly spoke.
“Umm. Excuse me? If Mr. 64 really went through all of that… then what happened when he was able to escape?” She asked, hiding behind her mane to hide her watering eyes.
Shining Armor sighed as he continued, giving me and my friends a sad look.
“I was a first day PFC when we got word of an escaped criminal who had killed a guard during his escape. I was paranoid out of my mind when I was assigned nighttime security to Princess Celestia’s Academy for Gifted Unicorns, fearing for my life when they described the escapee as armed, dangerous, and shows no hesitancy to kill. While investigating a strange noise I heard while standing guard, I saw Project 64 sitting against a wall inside of the Professor’s office, with a file labeled Student profiles lying on the ground. Apparently he was trying to find information regarding one of Princess Celestia’s past students.”
I looked towards my friends and saw their expecting faces, trying to find out what could be the reason for this story.
“I was scared stiff when I saw him look back up at me, and my CO saw what was going on. After he and 64 had a small scuffle, he shot a destructive spell into the ceiling, and the room quickly started to catch fire. My CO ran out of the Professor’s office, locking both me and 64 in. I ended up being crushed by falling pieces of debris, and fell unconscious as the smoke inhalation over took me. Next thing I knew when I woke up, I was in a cave with my right forehoof bandaged up and bone set. I knew from that point that he wasn’t what the higher ups made him up to be, and made it a point to look into the person who was Project 64.”
“So they have been ruthlessly masquerading 64 as a bloodthirsty creature that wants to do nothing but harm other ponies? How dreadful!” Rarity exclaimed, a frown upon her face.
“All 64 has tried to do in his life is try to get back at the people who have wronged him, including Celestia, but I think after all of this 64 is going to be done with getting back at her. She’s clearly not in her own state of mind right now.”
“Then we need to try our best to stop Super Nova! And I think I have the perfect brother who can make us a plan so we can use the Elements on her, right Shining Armor?” I said, nudging him with my elbow.
“Right, now we need to get her to an area where there’s a lot of open space... and I know the perfect place to do so…” Shining said, drawing up a gamelan out in the dirt.
64 POV
So close……
Gotta…… close……
Get up……
Vi……
“You need her, don’t you?”
I sat up as I looked around, seeing nothing but blackness.
“Worthless without her, aren’t you?”
I shot to my feet and looked around, readying my fists for any assailants which could sneak up on my through the pitch black darkness. I couldn’t see my own hands in front of my face, and I could feel the icy air start to freeze me through to my bones as my fingers began to go numb, along with my ears, nose and toes. I couldn’t help but start to shiver, as I tried desperately to stay on my feet, wanting to fall onto my back and simply lay there.
“W-What do y-you know?! J-Just leave me a-alone!” I stuttered, teeth chattering uncontrollably as I continued to turn in circles, trying to see who was taunting me.
“You really are weak aren’t you…? Without her you can’t do anything, you can’t even get up after a fall…”
What? I was up right now, why would it say that?
“I-diot! I’m a-already… u-up!” I chattered, as I began to feel my legs start to numb up as well, “You don’t scare m-me! I’m… n-not a-afraid!”
I started to run towards the voice, trying to attack whatever was starting to scare the shit out of me. I would beat it to a pulp with my bare fists, making it rue the day it decided to cross me.
“Over here slowpoke…”
I turned my head as I heard it coming from another direction, and I quickly started towards it.
“Wrong way!” It yelled in my ear, as I felt a force shove me to the ground, as I quickly regained my footing as I turned and swung my right fist towards the assailant, as I felt a satisfying smash of my fist meeting with whatever shoved me, and I quickly pounced on top of it, holding it down.
“SHOW YOURSELF!” I screamed at it, as a small light began to shine above me, as things started to brighten up. I squinted to see the figure below me, and one it came into focus, I immediately shot back, gasping in fear and crawling backwards to try and get away from what I was saying.
I saw Vi’s bloody face staring back at me as she stood, and started to advance towards me, blood dripping down her now blackened eye, and an incredibly frightening smile adorning her face as she walked towards me slowly.
“Why…. Why would you do that to me?” She said as she got onto her hands and knees, slowly starting to crawl towards me as I felt my back hit an invisible barrier.
“I-I didn’t know it was you! I didn’t k-know who that was!” I yelled, trying to press through the wall away from her.
“No… Not that… Why would you sacrifice me to get what you wanted….?” Vi whispered, as she finally reached me and out her hands onto my shoulders, leaning close to my face. “Why did you kill me…? Why…?”
“I didn’t kill you! You’re not dead!”
“Why 64…? Why? Come with me 64… make us whole….”
“GET AWAY FROM ME!” I screamed as I tried to shake her off of me, but was unable to move as her iron grip held me down, as her face got closer to mine.
“COME WITH ME! DIE WITH ME 64! MAKE US WHOLE!”
Her eyes began to flash blue and red as her entire face started to flicker and fade. I began to see her face contort and shift, as I began to look closer. The last thing I saw before everything went black, was Super Nova’s roaring face right in front of mine.
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I awoke in a shock, as I felt my blood run cold as I had to gather my bearings. From what I could see above me through the intense blur were large trees, with many broken branches dressing them, an obvious clue that I had an intense fall. My head was being split in half by an incredibly painful head ache, and my vision was reduced to one big blur, nearly blinding me.
I turned my neck, testing to see if I had broken anything in my neck. After a few successful swivels, I couldn’t find anything wrong there, so I continued towards my smaller appendages. I wiggled my fingers on my hands, feeling slight pain, but nothing broken. I performed this test on my legs, arms, and shoulders, as I felt nothing out of place or broken.
I sat up slowly, as I felt a dull pain sting through my abdomen, as I saw my wound was still opened, and I quickly looked around for my Satchel. I saw it strewn across the small patch of grass across from me, and I struggled to pull myself onto my knees, as I decided to start crawling towards the bandages I saw on the ground, knowing I would need the to prevent infection.
“Shit… why the fuck do I feel so slow…” I muttered, as it felt like an eternity as I finally reached the small roll of bandages. I lift up my shirt, showing the various scars and blemishes from my past adventures and experiences, along with bronzing skin, which I had developed after the large amount of time traveling through the deserts of Equestria. I ripped open the packaging on a large square bandage, and applied it to the exiting chest wound I had, before securing them using bandaging roll I had. I then reached around to my back, and tried my best to apply another bandage to the slightly thudding wound.
After a subpar first aid job, I was finally able to stand straight up, feeling a wave of nausea threatening to knock me back over. I shook my head a bit, trying to get the feeling out, and grimaced as it seemed to do was make it a bit worse. My ears twitched as I heard the telltale sign of a stream flowing about 20 yards away from me, and I started to limp towards the sound.
“Ugh… water…” I groaned as I desperately went to quench my burning thirst. I finally came to the small stream, and I immediately feel to my knees gasping for air. I leaned over to take a few nice hearty gulps of the water, but as soon as I saw my reflection, I stopped and simply stared.
I saw my brown shaggy hair fall past my eyes. It was covered in dirt and filth, as well as my face, along with the horrible burned shut left eye I had, effectively blinding me for now. There were scars and cuts from past adventures still adorning my face, and my working Brown right eye had the look of someone 3 times my age. I saw the eyes of someone who wanted to stop running, of someone who wanted to do see the world on his own accord, and enjoy life.
“Yeah… tough luck there… Who knows how long that will take…?” I muttered, as I pushed myself back onto my feet, grunting as my stab wound was starting to act up once again. “Why the fuck is it acting up all of a sudden? Damn… it’s like after that fall my body started to go to shit… How the hell did I survive without Vi anyway...? OH SHIT VI!”
I suddenly lurched forward as I ran back to the small patch of earth I landed on, falling over as my vision started to blur. I crawled back to the landing site, and quickly started to look around for the Peacemaker. I searched within the scattered contents of my Satchel, but found nothing but my traveling supplies. I continued to look around the field, until I saw Peacemaker caught within a high hanging branch which I had smashed through, and I immediately grabbed the nearest rock to chuck it at Peacemaker, trying to dislodge it.
After a half dozen throws, I finally knocked Peacemaker out of the tree, as I stumbled over to grab it off of the ground. I reached it and immediately fell to the ground, gasping for air as I tried to make any form of contact with Vi.
“V-Vi… please… talk to me… Please… I-I’m sorry for what I-I did to you… Please forgive me…” I choked out, gasping as tears started to stream down my faces as I felt absolutely nothing within Peacemaker. Instead of the mental connection I always felt when I held Peacemaker; I felt a large blackness within me, as if a part of me was ripped out forcefully. It was nothing but a 7 pound black bar of metal, good for nothing but acting as a paperweight.
I could do nothing but simply sit there and cry, knowing that I had done this to Vi. I practically forced her to absorb Super Nova’s evil magic, when I could have easily directed it through something else as simple as an Empty Rhyolite Gem.
“Oh… how the mighty have fallen…”
I turned around in surprise, rearing my fists back and standing up in a ready position before I slumped back over in pain, wincing at my sudden movement.
“K-Knight… how the fuck are you here?” I asked, as I saw him standing before me in the flesh, with saddlebags on his back.
“Oh it’s very obvious really. I’m going to get out of this trash heap which is Equestria, before it all goes to Tartarus and bursts into flames. Super Nova is already calling for full scale invasion to everywhere from Trottingham to Cloudsdale, and I’m not going to be anywhere near any of this before it all goes down. Now… for the reason I am here right now… is an entirely different story.” Knight finished, a devilish grin adorning his face.
“And what kind… of r-reason would that be?” I questioned, before slowly getting to my feet this time.
“Simply really. I doubt you want to be caught in the middle of the fray when Super Nova explodes, pardon my bad pun, and I thought you might want to set sail along with me to the Western Kingdom of Ethaxial, where we could be have a safe haven from Super Nova.”
“And what is the catch… to this l-little bargain… huh? I know you’re n-not a pony would w-would do somepony else a kindness w-without some sort of… ulterior motive.”
Knight put on a fake pout, before continuing, “Oh boo, looks like you’ve seen right through my plan… whatever will I do now?”
“Cut the shit Knight, and tell me why you are really here?!” I screamed out, before I coughed into my hand, starting to reveal some blood.
“You. Will come with me to Ethaxial, and be my… personal pet…”
“Woah asshole… you should know I don’t swing that way…”
I understood would Knight was really trying to tell me, but seeing the look on his face at that moment was priceless.
“YOU KNOW DAMN WELL THAT ISN’T WHAT I MEANT!” Knight screamed as red started to invade his cheeks. “You will come with me to Ethaxial so I may continue my experimentation in the genetic field of pain. I will be needing you for my slow takeover of Equestria as well.” Knight said, closing his eyes with a cocky face, putting a hoof to his chest.
He wanted me to become his sick experiment once again so he could continue what he was stopped from doing 6 years ago, and he actually had the gall to come to me and present it in the form of a proposition. If this gut didn’t absolutely spell out the definition of insane then I don’t know what does.
“Really… You expect me to just up and leave Equestria… with YOU of all ponies, and leave these ponies to d-deal with Super Nova herself? Not…in a thousand years…” I mumbled, as I turned to walk away from him, awaiting for what he would do next.
“None of this… was a request…” I heard from behind, as the telltale sound of a blade being unsheathed rang out from Knight’s direction.
I turned around to see Knight had gotten his hands on a sword, had was now holding it in a magical grasp, and pointing it towards me.
“You WILL, come with me to Ethaxial, and you WILL, assist me in my future experiments. We are going to start fresh… starting from Project 64… come with me.” Knight threatened, as he continued to walk towards me. Even with an abdomen injury, combined with a slight concussion and severe disorientation, I was sure I would still be able to take Knight in a fight, even with his sword, but I needed him to fall into a false sense of security before I made my move.
“What kind of pony are you, threatening someone who’s obviously injured and unable to protect themselves…?” I whispered, feigning extreme fatigue,
“Oh that simply makes it perfect. We can make this little trip very easily, now all I need you to do is sit there, and let me do my job!” Knight growled, before he rushed forward and clumsily sliced horizontally at me, forcing me to jump back a bit. He once again rushed me, trying to stab me through the gut, as I was able to kick the blade away from me, and direct it to my left. Even though he was extremely amateurish, I wasn’t able to move as efficiently as I usually could, so I grabbed the handle of the blade midair, preventing him from moving it anywhere. I could feel him try to pull it away from me as he grunted and huffed, before the pain became too much and I let go, falling to the ground and grunting in pain as my stab injury acted up again.
“All you need to do is sit there, and let me chop off your legs! I won’t give you the chance to even try and run away!” Knight yelled as I quickly made to get up, before his sword came down once again as I leapt to my right, avoiding his downward slicing blade. I rolled over onto my back as I saw the sword coming down for a stab, where I did the first thing instinct came to, and I put my hands out to grab the blade.
“SHIT!” I yelled out in pain, as I wrapped my fingers around the stabbing blade. The pain was only amplified by the fact that Knight was continuously pressing down, slicing my hands even further. I remembered from my fight with Shining Armor what I needed to do in this sort of situation, so I brought the blade upwards over me, as I planted a foot onto Knights stomach and kicked him over me, sending him flying over me. I curled my fists and rushed at him, kicking him in the muzzle as he attempted to get up.
“You little insect!” Knight yelled as he cast a spell, blasting a wave of energy at me, forcing me onto my back once again.
I managed to roll backwards back onto my feet, as I saw Knight coming at me once again with the sword. I once again sent a kick at the sword, my foot catching yet another small slice, but it knocked Knight off balance for 2 seconds and that’s all I need to lunge at Knight, tackling him to the ground as my stab acted up once again, but I fought through the pain to pin him to the ground, holding his neck with as much force as I could.
“W-what are y-y-you g-gonna do… 64…? I k-know f-for a fact t-that you’re t-too m-much of a c-coward to k-kill me…” Knight choked out, as my hands gripped his throat a bit tighter.
“You’re right… I’m not gonna kill you…” I said, as I sent a right hook into his jaw, effectively breaking it. Knowing he wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon, I got up off him and saw my bloody handprints on his fur, before I turned around and began looking for Vi where I dropped her, and picked her up off of the ground.
“I’m going to put you through what you made so many others go through Knight… I’m gonna make you hurt…” I said, before I started to gather up some fallen tree branches and a good rock on the ground. I put the wood into a pile and I grabbed the rock, striking it against Peacemaker to see the sparks fly from it. I then made a small fire, to use it for what I was about to do. I snapped a few large branches off of the tree around me, and tested them to see if they were sharp enough for what I was about to do. I took the 2 branches I had and snapped them both in half, making all 4 pieces I now had equally sized. I put all four stakes I had into the small fire, and waited for them to char.
I then grabbed Knight’s prone body, laying him spread eagle onto his stomach, the position he would need to be in for what I was about to do to him. Once the sticks had sufficiently charred, I took one of them out, and stuck the other end into the fire for a short moment, taking it out while it still had a bit of flame on the end.
I then walked over towards Knight’s unconscious body, and forced the charred end of the branch into his left rear hoof, watching as he suddenly jolted awake, screaming as the burning stake started burning downwards towards his hoof.
“SHUT UP!” I yelled, sending a good jab towards his face, subduing him for now. He was still whimpering, unable to speak due to his broken jaw. I pulled the other stake out of the fire, and once again repeated the process, slightly relishing in the sounds of his anguish. It was as if all of the shit he had ever put me through was now flooding out in a torrent of torture, pain, and suffering.
I looked to his horn, and saw a light shimmering start to come from it. Just a bit more…
I then stabbed the other two stakes into his hooves, watching as blood slowly leaked out of them, getting a sick pleasure as he squirmed, attempting to escape, but he couldn’t due to him being stabbed into the ground.
“You want to escape… but you simply can’t! Ha, you… you are going burn here!” I said with a maniacal laugh, seeing him finally going through what I had endured under his hoof. The ends of the burning sticks spread through to the rest of its length, and eventually the flames reached his fur, making him squirm and scream as he was being burned.
Once again looking to his horn I saw the magic starting to flow out at a much faster rate, and knew one more push would be all I needed before I could get my ultimate revenge. I looked at the small pile of fire which was starting to burn out, and grabbed the few sticks in the pile with my bare hands, and immediately threw them onto his pinned body.
“GAHHHHHH!” Knight yelled as his fur and flesh began to burn, and I finally got the results I wanted. Magic started to erupt from his horn, and I immediately grabbed Vi and held her in front of Knight’s magic expulsion, forcing her to absorb the “pure” magic she had inside of her. I know what she would get if the magic transfusion ended up going through, but I would rather have her alive and slightly scarred than dead.
Knight’s red magic continued to flow into Vi, hopefully getting something through to her. The thrashing Knight continued to scream in pain as his magic was being forcefully expelled, until I heard his screams becoming more choked off and forced. He began to thrash less and less, as he got quieter and quieter.
I immediately took off my black long sleeve and started to smother the fire off of him, making sure he didn’t go through anymore. Looking at his now burned body I saw the flesh festering from the burns, and I knew that he would be in pain for a good long while.
I held Vi in my hands, and still felt nothing and simply shook my head, knowing that this was a very farfetched plan. I hoped to flush out Super Nova’s evil magic with Knight’s neutral magic, but nothing seemed to work.
I saw Knight on the ground, still impaled to the ground as he began to heave for air, breathing incredibly hard.
“We’re not done yet. You just lay there and wait.” I growled. I felt the stab wound act up again, as I massaged it with my hand to try and quell the pain.
I jumped up in shock when I heard a voice ring out through my head.
“I can get that…”